Eyeing polls, BJP-ruled Haryana goes slow on traffic fines

Devinder Singh Kohli/Agency | October 05, 2019 06:21 PM

Chandigarh, The BJP-ruled Haryana, which was on a spree on imposing fines to motorists for road safety violations, now seems to be going slow on traffic fines owing to its negative impact on assembly polls slated for October 21.

From September 14, the police launched a state-wide awareness drive for three days about the amended Motor Vehicles Act (MVA), 2019 that came into effect on September 1.

Officials told IANS that after the awareness drive a direction was issued to the police to rather 'go slow' for the time being on imposing fines to the motorists.

Sample the case of Gurugram.

The entire district of Gurugram has registered 97 per cent drop in the issuance of traffic fines since the announcement of the elections on September 21.

On an average nearly 2,000 traffic fines are being imposed every day. These days there number is around 50.

"There was a general resentment against the government as some of the BJP-ruled states like Himachal Pradesh have not implemented the new motor vehicle act and Gujarat has reduced the enhanced fines," a senior police official admitted to IANS, requesting anonymity.

He said the instructions from the government were verbal till the next government came in.

"But we are issuing warnings to the violators," he added.

Haryana, which was among the first states to implement stricter penalties for traffic violations, has collected fines of Rs 52.32 lakh, with nearly Rs 10 lakh from just Gurugram, in just four days from September 1.

In the initial days of the amendment in the motor vehicle law, scooter rider Mukul was fined Rs 16,000 in Kaithal town for not carrying documents of his vehicle.

Another scooter rider Dinesh Madan was fined Rs 23,000 by the Gurugram traffic police for multiple traffic violations. He was not carrying documents and the pollution certificate and was not wearing the helmet.

In another case, jumping the traffic light proved extremely expensive for an auto driver in Gurugram's Sikanderpur area. He was fined Rs 32,500.

Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Digvijay Singh Chautala in his election campaigns is pledging to repeal the new motor vehicle act.

"By implementing the new motor vehicle act, the Khattar government is not only challaning the people, but also robbing them," Chautala, who is the Indian National Student Organisation (INSO) president, said.

Slamming the government, Hooda said: "The government showed hurry to implement the amended Act as it is an anti-people government. When we come to power, we will reduce the fines."